Breech mechanism for guns.



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BREECH MECHANISM FOR GUNS.

APPLICATION man JUNE 8. 1914. 1,145,036.

-i 1 1' I M WITNESS ES C. SCHMID.

BREECH MECHANISM FOR suns.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 8. I914.

Patented July 6, 1915.

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tion taken on line 11 in Fig. 3; Fig. 2rep- CHRISTIAN SCHMID, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BREECI-I MECHANISM FOR GUNS.

Application filed June 8, 1914.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN Serrano, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Philadelphia, county of Philadelphia, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented an Improvement in Breech Mechanism for Guns, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has reference to breech loading, break-down guns and consists of certain improvements which are fully set forth in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings forming a part thereof.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved construction for controlling the hammers and more particularly comprehends throwing the hammers to operative or cocked position by means of the breakdown lever the barrels.

It has for a further object to provide an improved safety mechanism operating in conjunction with the break-down lever whereby the hannners, trigger sears and coordinate adjunots are positively locked at will to prevent accidental releasing of the hammers from cocked position to result in the premature discharge of the fire arm.

It has for a further object to provide an improved connecting means between the breech frame and the barrel or barrels whereby the aforesaid parts in operative or firing position are positively locked and the danger of lateral displacement of the barrels with respect to the frame is entirely eliminated.

It also comprehends details of construction which, together with the features above specified, will be better understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 represents a section of the breech gun embodying my invenresents a vertical section takenon line 22 of Fig. 4:: Fig. 3 represents a section on line 33 of Fig. 1; Fig. 4 represents a plan of the breech mechanism, certain parts being broken away for clearness of illustration; Fig. 5 represents a section of the safety mechanism taken on line 55 of Fig. 4; Fig. 6 represents a section on line 66 of Fig. 4: Fig. 7 represents a section on line 7 of Fig. 3; Fig. 8 represents a perspective of the barrel locking cylinder.

In the drawings forming a part of this Specification of Letters Patent.

which controls the breaking ofthe Patented July 6, 1915. Serial No. 843,621.

application I have shown my invention as adapted to a double barrel gun since that is the type more generally used, though it will be understood that the improvements are equally applicable to a single barrel gun and have, therefore, in the following described the details of my invention with respect to one barrel only.

1 designates the barrel of the gun which is provided on its lower side adjacent the breech with a lug 2 preferably of U-shaped form, and adapted to seat within a slot 3 formed in the breech iron or frame 4. The lug 2, as in the ordinary type of connection, is provided with a hook shaped portion at its forward end, adapted to engage and seat against the journal or hinge pin 5 about which the barrel rocks in being moved from open to closed position or vice versa. It will be noted that the groove 3 is, however, contrary to the usual practice, of considerable length and extends from the pin 5 into close proximity to the wall of the breech frame against which the barrel seats. The lug 2 of the barrel is also correspondingly longer than the ordinary lug for holding the barrel properly fixed with respect to the breech frame,'and conforms substantially to the size and configuration of the slot 3 so that when the two parts are fitted one within the other, the barrel or barrels will be firmly a ffixed to the breech frame and have a long bearing against lateral displacement.

6 designates the shell ejector or extractor carried by the barrel part, and which may be of any well known type, since the same forms no part of my present invention. The breech iron face 7 is provided with an aperture 8 adapted to aline with the cap of the shell and designed to permit free passage of firing pin 9 carried by the hammer 10. In the present instance the hammer 10 is pivoted at 1.1 to the breech frame and is connected at 12 to a plunger rod 13 positioned and held in engagement with the plunger 14 which is slidingly mounted in a socket or opening 15 in the breech frame 4:. The plunger 14 is controlled by the main spring 16' which bears at one end against a suitable shoulder on the plunger 14, and at the other end seats against the bottom of the aforesaid socket 15. The function of this construction is to normally throw the hammer 10 so that the pin 9 passes through the opening 8 into firing relation to the shell.

17 designates a catch or lug formed at a suitable point on the hammer 10 and adapted to be engaged by asimilar catch 18 of the combined cocking lever and sear 19. This latter member is pivoted at 20 to the breech frame, and its free end is upwardly turned to form a cam 21 located at one side of and in the path of movement of the rock lever 22. It will here be noted that the opposite cam 21 for the locking lever of the second barrel, if it is a double barreled gun, is dis posed at the opposite side of the rock lever 22 so that as the latter is tion to cock the gun, both hammers 10 will be simultaneously brought to cocked position and locked. The rock lever 22, in the present instance, is carried by a rock spindle 23 journaled at one end in a lug or projection 24E of the breech frame, while its opposite end passes'through the top plate 25 of the frame to carry the lever 26, this latter being adapted to be operated by hand for unlocking the barrel in the act of breaking down the gun. lhe spindle 23 is normally held in operative position by means of a plunger 27 slidably mounted in a suitable opening in the breech frame, and held outwardly pressed by a spring 28. In this manner the plunger is maintained pressing against a suitable part fixed to the spindle 23 so that the rock lever 22 is held in proper operative relation to the combined cocking lever and sear 19.

29 designates a pendulum lever suitably pivoted to the spindle 23 and having a part thereof journaled within the cylindrical body of the locking bolt '30, which latter is aperturedas shown at 31 (Fig. 8) for the purpose. This locking bolt is journaled in the breech frame for rotary reciprocatory movement and has its axis substantially parallel to the axis of the bore of the barrel as will be apparent. The bolt 30 is also provided with a locking part 32 adapted to be moved through the slot or aperture 33 in the rear projection 34 of the barrel.- lt'will be noted that the part of the pendulum lever 29 which operates the bolt is substantially conical shaped in order to make a satisfactory operative contact with the lock bolt and perunit free movement of the parts without creating objectionable friction. For the purpose of holding this cylindrical locking bolt 30 in unlocked position when the barrel is open or broken down, I employ a vertically reciprocable trip pin 85 which works in a hole in the breech frame below the bolt and ismaintained in proper position by a spring 36 located between the pin and a screw 37, thisscrew also serving the purpose of holding the trigger plate 38 to the bottom of the breech frame. Normally the pin 35 is held depressed against the tension of the spring 36 by contact with the body portion of the lock 30, but as the latter is turned to correspond to the full open position, an aperture swung to a posithe wire the said pin will be into alinement with the pin 35 and thus permits the latter to spring upward and prevent further rotation of the locking cylinder. It willalso be noted that the pin in its uppermost or operative position is located in the path of movement of the barrel extension 34: so that as the barrel is returned to firing position the latter member will strike the aforesaid pin and cause it to release the locking cylinder so that the said cylinder may be rotated by the automaticreturn of the lever 26 the case may be.

l0 designates a lever pivoted at 4:1 to a lug forming part of thetrigger plate 38 and to which lever the trigger 4-3 is connected at 44: while the said trigger is pivoted at 45 to the lug 42. As the end of the sear extends beneath the combined cocking lever and sear 19, it will be evident that when the trigger is pulled it will turn in the direction of the arrow (Fig. 2), thus raising the lever 40 and through it lift the combined cocking lever and sear 19 so that the catch 17 is re to lock the barrel or barrels as sition by the operation of the main spring 16 p and its parts.

The safety mechanism for positively looking the hammers against accidental movement of the triggers, consists of a pin l6 operating through the top plate of the breech frame and adapted to seat in an opening or recess L7 in the thumb or hand lever 26. As' here shown the pin 46 is apertured to receive a wire 48 of spring material, the end of which is suitably bent so that in one position of the wire as the pin 16 will be held or pressed within the lever opening 17 while in the opposite position of withdrawn below the upper surface of the plate 25. The opposite end ofthe wire as is fixed to the stem as of. the safety thumb latch 50, the said stem being mounted for sliding movement within. a slot 51 of the plate 25.

52 designatesa flat spring fixed between the plate 25 and a pin 53 on the stem 49 and having a bent portion 5a adapted to seat in slots or recesses 55 in the plate, and serverative or inoperative position.

In describing the operation of the mechanism it will be assumed that the gun has been'iired so that the several steps incident to loading, cocking and manipulation of the safety device may be-readily followed and understood. The gun is broken in the usual manner by throwing the thumb or hand lever 26 to one side to partially rotate the locking cylinder 30 and remove the part 32 from its engagement with the barrel pro-- jection 34:. This action permits the barrel to swing on the pivot 5 so that the exploded shells may be extracted and new shells inserted. The act of shifting the break-down lever 26 imparts a turning movement to the spindle 23 which causes the rock lever 22 to bear against the combined cocking lever and sear 19 and thereby draw back the hammer 10 to its cocked position, this latter being determined by the latch members 17 and 18 coming into engagement. As soon as the gun is loaded the barrels may be snapped back to their firing position and as they seat against the breech frame the projection 34 shifts the pin 35 out of locking engagement with the cylinder 30 so that the latter automatically returns to locking position through the action of the plunger 87 impelled by the spring 28. This movement also automatically returns the spindle 23 and its attached parts, the rock lever 22 and breakdown lever 26 to their normal positions, the former of course taking a position removed from the cam 21 so that the combined cocking lever and sear 19 may move freely when actuated by the raising of the lever 40. The gun is now ready to be fired as the hammer is held in cocked position ready to be released by the operation of the trigger.

In case it is desired to lock the hammer in partly cocked position so that movement of the trigger will have no releasing effect upon the hammers, I have provided the safety mechanism heretofore described and which operates as follows. The thumb latch is manually moved to the safety position so that the spring wire 48 tends to press the pin 46 against the lower face of the lever 26. The lever 26 is now given a movement in the direction to break the gun, but before its throw is complete the opening 47 comes into alinement with the pin 46 so that the latter springs into opening 47 and prevents return movement of the breakdown lever. It will be noted that the opening 47 is so positioned with respect to one side of the lever 26 as to make it necessary to move the lever the required distance to swing the rock lever 22 into abutting or contact relation with the hammer locking lever 19, thus insuring a positive locking of the triggers. hen the safety latch 50 is returned to the normal position, the end of the wire 48 being bent or cam shaped, the pin 46 is withdrawn thereby releasing the lever 26 and permitting its automatic return so that the rock lever 22 is returned to such a position that it does not interfere with the free movement of the hammer locking lever. In this position the trigger may be freely operated to raise the lever -10 and with it the combined cocking lever and sear 19 so that the hammer is released by the plunger under control of the main spring 16.

It will now be apparent that I have devised a novel and useful construction which embodies the features of advantage enumerated as desirable, and while I have in the present instance shown and described the preferred embodiment thereof which has been found in practice to give satisfactory and reliable results, it is to be understood that I do not restrictmyself to the details, as the same are susceptible of modification in various particulars without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention.

Having now described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is 1. In a device of the character stated, the combination of a breech frame, a barrel mounted thereon adapted to be broken down, means for locking said barrel in firing position, a break-down lever pivoted to said frame forcontrolling said locking means, a hammer operatively mounted within said breech frame, means for actuating said hammer, a spindle connected to said lever and adapted to be oscillated by the movement of said lever, a lug carried by said spindle, a sear for holding said hammer in cocked position and having a portion thereof positioned in the path of movement of said spindle lug. and a trigger mechanism for releasing said sear.

2. In a device of the character stated, the combination of a breech frame, a plurality of barrels mounted on said frame adapted to be broken down, means for locking said barrels in firing position, a break-down lever pivoted to said frame for controlling said locking means, a hammer for each barrel operatively mounted within said breech frame, means for independently actuating said hammers, a spindle connected to said lever and adapted to be oscillated by the movement of said lever, a lug projecting at each side of said spindle, sears for respectively holding said hammers in cocked position, each sear having a portion thereof located in the path of movement of one of said spindle lugs and a separate trigger mechanism for independently releasing each of said sears.

3. In a device of the character stated, the combination of a breech frame, a barrel mounted thereon adapted to be broken down, means for locking said barrel in firing position, a break-clown lever pivoted to said frame for controlling said locking means, a hammer operatively mounted Within said breech frame, means for actuating said hammer, means controlled by the movement of said break-down lever for moving said hammer to cocked position, means for holding said hammer in cocked position, a trigger mechanism for releasing said holding means, and a safety device arranged to lock said break-down lever in a predetermined position to render said hammer inoperative.

4. In a breech loading gun, the combination of a breech frame, a barrel therefor, a

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firing hammer pivoted Within the breech frame, devices for cocking the hammer, means for operating said devices pivoted to the breech frame and having a hand operated lever upon the outside of the breech frame, and a'safety device cooperating With the means for operating the cocking devices to lock the hammer in a position intermediate of its cocked and fired positions and render it temporarily inoperative.

5. In a breech loading gun, the combination of a breech firing hammer pivoted Within the breech frame, means for cocking the hammer, a spring actuated lever pivoted in the breech frame having a hand operative member upon the inside for actuating the cocking mechanism said cocking lever normally out of contact with the cocking mechanism, and hand controlled means for temporarily holding the lever in intermediate cocking position whereby the hammers may be positively held at a position intermediate of the firing and fired positions when it is desired to prevent the gun being accidentally fired.

6. In a breech loading gun, the combination of a breech frame, With barrels pivoted thereto adapted to be broken down, locking means for locking the barrels upon the breech frame in their firing position, hammers pivoted to the breech frame, spring Copies of this patent may be obtained for frame, a barrel therefor, a

the outside thereof and means upon,

actuated devices for operating the hammers, hand operable parts independent ofthe barrels for cocking the hammers Without requiring the gun to be broken down, and safety means for locking the hand operable parts in position to hold the hammers in inoperable positions intermediate of their cooked and fired positions and so as to permit the gun to be broken down Without affectingthe position of the hammers.

7. In a breech loading gun, the combina tion of a breech frame, with barrels pivoted thereto adapted'to be broken down, locking means for locking the barrels upon the breech frame in their firing positions, firing hammers pivoted to the breech frame, spring devices for operating the hammers, hand operable parts independent of the barrels for cocking the hammers Without requiring the gun to be broken down, connecting means adapted to unlock said locking means simultaneously With the cocking of the hammers, and means for locking said hand operable parts to render said hammers inoperative.

In testimony of Which invention, I here unto set my hand.

CHRISTIAN SCHMID.

Witnesses:

R. M. HUNTER, E. W. SMITH.

five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of latents,

Washington, D. G. 

